Could Machines Develop Autonomous Agency?

Abstract

“Could machines develop autonomous agency?” To address this question, we explored the recent return of the concept of agency in biological discourse. At the end of the 19th century, the successful development of physics and chemistry motivated some biologists to adopt a physicalist stance, positing that biology can be reduced to physics and chemistry. This theoretical approach became dominant during the 20th century with the advent of molecular biology while teleology, agency and normativity disappeared from the biological lexicon. The failure of molecular biology to explain complex biological organization probably led to the reintroduction of these concepts in the biological sciences and philosophy of biology. In addition to the historicity of organisms (they are the product of organismal reproduction throughout phylogenesis), the intrinsic properties of biological objects are linked to the precariousness of life as exemplified by the need to search for food and to avoid being eaten. Moreover, the continuous need to counteract entropy also involves the capacity of organisms to synthesize their own chemical components and reproduce. From this historical narrative, we conclude that it is unlikely that machines could develop minimal intrinsic agency. On the contrary, when they appear to express agency, it is of external origin, reflecting the agency of the humans that created such machines.

Keywords: teleology, historicity, goal-directedness, natural agency, artificial agency